image of person or book cover 34931091247541239.jpg
Screen cap from promotional trailer (DVD release)
form y separately published work icon Walkabout single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of Walkabout Donald Gordon Payne , James Vance Marshall , 1959 single work novel
Issue Details: First known date: 1971... 1971 Walkabout
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Adapted from James Vance Marshall's novel The Children, Walkabout begins with a father-of-two driving his fourteen-year-old daughter and six-year-old son into the desert. Overwhelmed by the pressure on his life, he plans to kill them and then commit suicide, but his plan goes wrong. The siblings wander the desert aimlessly until they meet a young Aboriginal boy who is on a solitary walkabout as part of his tribal initiation into manhood. The three become travelling companions. Gradually, sexual tension develops between the girl and the Aboriginal boy. When they approach white civilisation, the Aboriginal boy dances a night-long courtship dance, but the girl is ignorant of its meaning. When she and her brother awake in the morning, they find the boy dead, hanging from a tree. The brother and sister make their way to the nearby mining town, where they receive a cool welcome from the townsfolk.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

10 Years of Homegrown Horror Hits : Talk To Me and the Golden Age of Aussie Horror Jessica Balanzategui , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 8 August 2023;
Screening the Australian Novel, 1971-2020 Imelda Whelehan , Claire McCarthy , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
How the World Spins Mark Baker , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Inside Story , March 2021;

'Mark Baker recalls an encounter with David Gulpilil in 1998'

David Gulpilil Could Be Remembered As a Man Doomed Between Two Worlds - Or As a Man Who Brought Us Joy, Life, and Art Stan Grant , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , December 2021;
'The film director Rolf de Heer, reflecting on his friend and collaborator, David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu, said the actor struggled between Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds.'
David Dalaithngu's Screen Presence Changed Australia's Film Industry Forever. Here's a Look at Some of His Major Roles Alice Dempster , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , November 2021;
Iconic Moments in Cinema : Australia, Part 1 : Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971): New Wave and New Beginning Adam Bingham , 2008-2009 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , no. 49 2008-2009;

— Review of Walkabout Edward Bond , 1971 single work film/TV
Skimming the Surface : Walkabout by Louis Nowra Dan Edwards , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , July - September no. 32 2004;

— Review of Walkabout Louis Nowra , 2003 single work criticism ; Walkabout Edward Bond , 1971 single work film/TV
Untitled Justine Kelly , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , April-May no. 13 2001;

— Review of Walkabout Edward Bond , 1971 single work film/TV
y separately published work icon Walkabout Louis Nowra , Sydney : Currency Press ScreenSound Australia , 2003 Z1039055 2003 single work criticism

'Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout opened worldwide in 1971. Based on the novel of the same name by James Vance Marshall, it is the story of two white children lost in the Australian Outback. They survive only through the help of an Aboriginal boy who is on walkabout during his initiation into manhood. The film earned itself a unique place in cinematic history and was re-released in 1998.

In this illuminating reflection on Walkabout, Louis Nowra, one of Australia's leading dramatists and screenwriters, discusses Australia's iconic sense of the outback; and the peculiar resonance that the story of the lost child has in the Australian psyche. He tells how the film came to be made and how its preoccupations fit into the oeuvre of both its director and cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, and its screenwriter Edward Bond.

Nowra identifies the film's distinctive take on a familiar story and its fable-like qualities, while also exploring the film's relationship to Australia and its implications for the English society of its day. He recognizes how relevant the film is to the contemporary struggle to try and find common ground between blacks and white.' -- Currency Press (2003)

Shared Dreamings Waiting to be Filmed Mark Byrne , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 31 May 2005; (p. 15)
35 Years on, Walkabout Still a Feather in His Cap Thirty Five Years on, Walkabout Still a Feather in His Cap Larry Schwartz , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 20 August 2005; (p. 3)
Tracking Gulpilil on Screen: Changing Representations of Indigenous Identity Jane Steinhaeuser , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Credits Rolling: Film & History Conference, Canberra Australia 2-5 December 2004 : Selected Papers 2004; (p. 43-48)
Desert Hauntings, Public Interiors and National Modernity : From 'The Overlanders' to 'Walkabout' and 'Japanese Story' Brigid Rooney , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 67 no. 1-2 2007; (p. 410-422)
Last amended 29 Aug 2022 15:39:09
Settings:
  • Sturt Plain, Mataranka - Tennant Creek area, Central Northern Territory, Northern Territory,
Influence on:
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